Patrick Cantlay

Patrick Stephen Cantlay (born March 17, 1992) is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour, where he has won eight tournaments.

Cantlay had a successful amateur career and was number one in the World Amateur Golf Ranking for 55 weeks. He shot a round of 60 on the PGA Tour while still a collegiate golfer at UCLA, and received low amateur honors at both the 2011 U.S. Open and 2012 Masters Tournament. Cantlay turned professional in 2012 and won on the Web.com Tour in 2013, securing promotion to the PGA Tour. He struggled in the following years with a career-threatening back injury. Cantlay returned in 2017 and won his first title on the PGA Tour later that year. He reached the top ten of the Official World Golf Ranking for the first time in 2019, and was named the PGA Tour Player of the Year after winning the FedEx Cup in 2021.

Early life

Cantlay was born in Long Beach, California on March 17, 1992, to Colleen (née Neylan) and Steve Cantlay. He is of Irish and Scottish descent. Both his parents attended the University of Southern California and he has three younger siblings: Nick, Caroline, and Jack. Steve worked in real estate and self-storage, and as a golfer won club championships at both Virginia Country Club and Wilshire Country Club. Cantlay's grandfather Pat Neylan had a practice putting and chipping area in his backyard; he introduced Cantlay to golf as a toddler.

Cantlay grew up in Los Alamitos, California. At age seven, he began to receive coaching from PGA of America instructor Jamie Mulligan at Virginia Country Club in Long Beach. Virginia Country Club was home to a number of professional golfers, such as John Cook, Paul Goydos, and John Merrick. Cantlay learned from these players, recalling in 2018: "They would always take me out to play, or if I asked any questions they'd be really helpful." By age 12, Cantlay began to challenge Mike Miles, who played on the PGA Tour in the 1980s, to matches at the club.

Cantlay attended Servite High School, a Catholic school with a noted sports program in Anaheim, California. In his first varsity match, he shot 31 in a nine-hole competition at Western Hills Country Club. He was named high school golfer of the year by The Orange County Register in 2009 and 2010. He was runner-up at the 2010 Southern California Amateur, and won the 2010 California State High School Championship. In June 2010, he was second (behind Jordan Spieth) in a Golfweek Sagarin poll of the top junior golfers in the country, and was named The Orange County Register's boys co-athlete of the year, becoming the first golfer to win that award.

After graduating from Servite, Cantlay finished second in the stroke play at the 2010 U.S. Amateur in August. He advanced to the semifinals of the match play portion held at Chambers Bay, where he was defeated by the eventual champion Peter Uihlein.

Collegiate career

Cantlay committed to the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in 2009. He was a history major. As a freshman, Cantlay won four individual tournaments and finished second in the stroke play at the 2011 NCAA Division I championship. He set a school record with 17 sub-70 rounds and had a 70.5 scoring average for the season. With his fourth win, a six-stroke victory at the NCAA West Regional in May, he set the UCLA record for most individual titles as a freshman. Cantlay won the Pac-10 Freshman and Player of the Year awards, the Phil Mickelson Award as the National Freshman of the Year, the Jack Nicklaus Award as the Division I National Player of the Year, and the Haskins Award as the most outstanding college golfer of the year.

On March 23, 2011, Cantlay became world number one in the World Amateur Golf Ranking. He held the position for a record total of 55 weeks; this record stood until Jon Rahm eclipsed it in 2016. Cantlay won the Mark H. McCormack Medal as the top-ranked amateur in the world at the end of the 2011 season. This earned him an invitation to the 2012 Open Championship.

Cantlay played in the 2011 Palmer Cup in June, helping the United States defeat Europe. The following week, he competed in the 2011 U.S. Open, after earning a place in the field through sectional qualifying. Cantlay was six-over-par through his first 22 holes at Congressional Country Club, but rallied on Friday with a bogey-free 30 on the back nine to make the cut. He ended the week in tied-21st place at even-par 284 to receive low amateur honors.

The week after the 2011 U.S. Open, Cantlay played in the Travelers Championship on the PGA Tour. In the second round, he shot a 10-under 60, which set the course record at TPC River Highlands and was the lowest round by an amateur in PGA Tour history. This gave him the lead headed into the final two rounds. He faded on the weekend and finished in tied-24th. In July, he finished tied-20th at the AT&T National, won the Southern California Amateur, and finished in a tie for ninth place at the RBC Canadian Open. He was ineligible for $356,297 in prize money from the PGA Tour events during this stretch due to his amateur status.

At the 2011 Western Amateur in August, Cantlay lost to Ethan Tracy in the final. Three weeks later, Cantlay reached the final of the U.S. Amateur, where he lost to Kelly Kraft. Cantlay represented the United States at the 2011 Walker Cup in September. He posted a 2–1–1 record, as Great Britain & Ireland defeated the United States by a score of 14 to 12.

During his sophomore season at UCLA, Cantlay made nine starts and had a 71.1 scoring average. He shot rounds of 63-70-70 to finish second at the Gifford Collegiate Invitational held at CordeValle Golf Club in October 2011, which was one of his five top-5 finishes of the season. By reaching the final of the U.S. Amateur, Cantlay earned an invitation to the 2012 Masters Tournament. He made the cut and finished in a tie for 47th, making him the low amateur. He won the 2012 Ben Hogan Award in May as the top collegiate golfer in the country, and finished tied-41st at the 2012 U.S. Open at the Olympic Club in June. He subsequently turned professional. For his achievements, Cantlay was named to the UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame in 2022. He ranked first as of 2022 in UCLA's golf program history with a 70.8 scoring average.

Professional career

2012–2016: Early years and injury struggles

In June 2012, Cantlay decided to forgo his final two years of college to turn professional. This meant that he forfeited his spot at the 2012 Open Championship. He signed with Mark Steinberg and Excel Sports Management, the same management team as Tiger Woods. Cantlay made his professional debut at the Travelers Championship. He opened with a 75 and followed with a 67 to miss the cut by two strokes. He made his first cut as a professional the following week, at the AT&T National. He shot a final-round 82 to finish tied-66th.

Cantlay played in the Chiquita Classic on the Web.com Tour in September 2012 after earning a place in the field through a Monday qualifier. He shot 22-under 266 to finish in a three-way tie for first alongside Russell Henley and Morgan Hoffmann. Henley won the title on the first playoff hole. At the 2012 PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament in December, Cantlay finished nine strokes shy of earning a PGA Tour card. He received sponsors' exemptions to play on the PGA Tour in the first two months of 2013, at the Humana Challenge, Farmers Insurance Open, AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am and Northern Trust Open. He finished tied-ninth at Pebble Beach but missed the cut in the other events.

At the Web.com Tour's Colombia Championship in March 2013, Cantlay shot a final-round 66 to win by four strokes and claim his first victory as a professional. At 20 years, 351 days, he became the second-youngest player to win on the Web.com Tour, after Jason Day who won aged 19. While warming up to play in the Crowne Plaza Invitational on the PGA Tour in May, Cantlay experienced a sharp pain, which he said "felt like somebody stuck a knife in my back". He attempted to play through the pain but ultimately withdrew, and was later diagnosed with a stress fracture in his L5 vertebrae. He did not play for three months afterwards and slid down the Web.com Tour rankings. After missing the cut at the Cox Classic in August, he fell to 29th in the rankings, outside the top 25 required to earn a PGA Tour card. Cantlay finished runner-up at the Hotel Fitness Championship the following week to secure a card for the 2013–14 PGA Tour season.

Cantlay continued to struggle with his back injury and made only six starts on the PGA Tour in 2014, with his best finish being a tie for 23rd. He sat out the entirety of 2015 due to injury. Cantlay planned to make his return at the CareerBuilder Challenge in January 2016, but suffered an injury setback and was advised to take another year to recover. The following month, he witnessed the death of his friend Chris Roth in a hit and run. Cantlay recalled in 2017: "I'm already at the lowest point I could be, I feel so far away from where my goals are, and then that happened. For a while, it just made me feel like nothing was important."